‘’Before the PLO and P.A. can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism, including the Oct. 7 massacre, and end incitement to terrorism in education,’’ the State Department says.
“The P.A. must also end its attempts to bypass negotiations through international lawfare campaigns, including appeals to the ICC and ICJ, and efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state,” it adds. “Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks.”
The European Union has urged the United States to reconsider its decision to refuse and revoke entry visas for members of the Palestinian Authority, including PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and the Palestine Liberation Organization ahead of their participation in the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
‘’In light of the existing headquarters agreements between the UN and its host state, we urge for this decision to be reconsidered,’’ EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said Sunday in a statement on behalf of the EU.
A source in the US State Department said that, in addition to Abbas, the US has denied visas to 80 other officials from the PA.
Abbas had been planning to travel to New York for the annual high-level UN General Assembly at UN headquarters in Manhattan. He was also set to attend a summit there — hosted by France and Saudi Arabia — where Britain, France, Australia and Canada are planning to formally recognize a Palestinian state.
In a statement, the U.S. State Department said on Friday : “The Trump administration has been clear: It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and P.A. accountable for not complying with their commitments and for undermining the prospects for peace.’’
‘’Before the PLO and P.A. can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism, including the Oct. 7 massacre, and end incitement to terrorism in education,’’ the statement adds.
“The P.A. must also end its attempts to bypass negotiations through international lawfare campaigns, including appeals to the ICC and ICJ, and efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state,” the statement continued. “Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks.”
The State Department statement ended by saying that the “US remains open to reengagement that is consistent with our laws, should the PA/PLO meet their obligations and demonstrably take concrete steps to return to a constructive path of compromise and peaceful coexistence with the State of Israel.”
The US decision was hailed by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who thanked U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for holding the PA and PLO “accountable for rewarding terrorism, incitement and efforts to use legal warfare against Israel.
The foreign minister, who met with Rubio in Washington this week, said the Trump administration was “standing by Israel once again” with the “bold step.”
Republican Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas posted on X that “the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization pay terrorists to kill civilians, including Americans in Israel. The terrorists who run this pay-for-slay scheme have no business setting foot in the United States.”
The P.A. mission to the United Nations will still receive waivers to attend the meeting of the General Assembly.